1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in which an image formed in an image station is transferred onto an image receiving member fed by a feeder to the image forming station, to form a visible image on the image receiving member, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having a conveyor belt for transferring the image receiving member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently image forming apparatuses have a conveyor belt for conveying an image receiving member to an image forming station where an image corresponding to image information is formed on the image receiving member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,541 discloses an image forming apparatus having a conveyor belt which is moved between a first position where the conveyor belt is in contact with the photosensitive member and a second position where the conveyor belt is away from the photosensitive member. This image forming apparatus enables a user to remove the image receiving member, for example, a paper that has jammed or failed to be properly fed, by moving the conveyor belt to the second position.
Although a corona charger may be used as a transfer device, in this apparatus a transfer roller is used as the transfer device. The transfer roller is always kept in contact with the conveyor belt even if the conveyor belt is away from the photosensitive member. For this reason, a component of the conveyor belt exudes and adheres on the transfer roller, and causes damage to the belt and the transfer roller. This results in the formation of a defective image.
Further, when the photosensitive member and the belt are driven while they are kept in contact with each other, a difference is produced in their moving speeds especially during acceleration and deceleration. This also damages the photosensitive member and the belt.